Lock-up



G. R. BRODIE Sept. 9, 1958 LOCK-UP 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April 2L, 1955INVENTOR. GEORGE P BRODIE v fgwulllfmanaymmmmmrlgz ATTORN Sept. 9, 1958G. R. BRoDxE LOCK-UP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 22, 1955 FIG.

AT1-0R EYS.

United States Patent() LUCK-UP George Rogers Brodie. Lower MerionTownship, Montgomeryl County, Pa., assigner toFredk. H. Levey Company,Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application April 2z,195s', serial No. 503,134V

z Claims. (ci. 10141s.1)

This invention relates to improvements inrotary, webfed printing pressesand' more particularly, presses of that type adapted to offset printing,by which the'ink impression is applied by printing plates-to so-called*blankets secured about the peripheries of blanket cylinders ro" tatingin contact with the web and which apply'V the ink impression to the Web.A

The blanket cylindersare usually of steel or other metal and theblankets are customarilyl of rubber. The present invention providesimproved' means for removably fastening and adjusting thev blankets onthe blanket cylinders.

As is well understood inthe printing art, it is necessary that theblanket be free from wrinkles andY litl snugly over the periphery of theblanket cylinder, and that tension on the blanket be substantiallyuniform, in order to produce printed matter of superior quality.In'modern Web-fed presses, the blanket cylinders are operated at highspeed and the blanketsmustbe so secured tothe cylinders as to avoid anyloosening, change in tension or wrinkling under operating conditions.

It hasv heretofore been proposed@ to secure the blankets to. the blanket-cylinders by wrapping the blanket around the periphery of the cylinderland tucking its ends into a slot in the periphery of the cylindenVariousv means have been proposed for securing theends oft the blanketin the slot. Means previously proposed for` that purpose havenecessitated:` slots and'bl'anket-seams of objectionably great width.and. have therefore resultedE in considerable loss of effective printingsurface of the blanketcylinder with a: resultant waste offpaper web.

In accordance with my present invention, these and other defects andobjections encountered with respect topreviouslyI proposed blanketlock-ups are avoided and other advantages obtained, as-will appearl fromthe following detailed description of myv improvedA lock-up mechanism. pY

The invention will be described and' illustrated with reference totheaccompanying; drawings, which represent a particularly advantageousembodiment ofthe invention and ofwhi'ch:v

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side View of. a blanket cylinder, partly brokenaway to show p the blanket lock-.up mechanism,`

Fig.- 2I is a, fragmentary end, view along the line 2 2 ofk Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse. section along. the line 3-3` of Fig.l,

Fig. 4. is a transverse. section along the. line 4 4 of Fig.. l,

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of one end of the blanket assembly,l

Fig. 6 is fragmentary side view of a blanket cylinder partly broken awayto show asomewhat modified form ofblanket lock-up,v

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectionalong the line 7-7 of Fig. 6,

Patented Sept. 9, 1958 Fig. 8 is a transverse section along' the line 88of Fig. 6, and

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary: section along the' line 9-9'of Fig. 8. l

In the following descriptionof the apparatus like ele= ments will beidentified by like reference numerals.-

Referring more particularly to Figs. l to 5, inclusive; of the drawings,a blanket cylinder of solid construction is represented at 1. Thisblanket cylinder is supported at each end by journals Z' rotatablymounted in the press side frames 3. The cylinder is adapted to berotated by means not shown.

As more clearly shown in Fig. 3, a portion of the cylinder is cut awayover its entire length along thexline 4 and they cut-away portion isreplacedA byI the blanket lockup assembly also extending` the entirelength of the cylinder.

The outer face of thelock-upassembly is formed by two rigid face-plates5, each keyed to 'the cylinder along its. entire length as indicatedv at6 andsecured tothe cylinder by screws 7 spaced apart over the length: ofthe Cylinder.

These face-plates are spaced apartat their outer surfaces, as indicatedat 8; to form a radially extending 'steelv alloy.

groovelruninglongitudinally the entire length of the cylinder. The innerportions of the face-plates are cut away as shownr in. Fig. 3 toaccommodate the two rollers 95, sometimes herein designatedv reelrollers.

These reel rollers extend the entire length of the cylinder and aresupported at each` end by journals 10 rotatably mounted in the bearerrings 11, which extendV longitudinally from. each end of the cylinder,and are securecl7 as by shrinking, to the supporting shaft ofthecylinder. These.. bearer rings are composed of a central portion 11n offorged steel. with an outer collar 11bl of hard It will be understoodthat the slot 8' and face plates 5` do` not extend beyond the inner faceof the bearer rings. Reference herein to the length' of the cylinderwilly be understood to mean the length of its eifectivepr-intingsurface.

The. journals 10 of the reel' rollers extendat oneend', at: somewhatreduced diameter, beyond the bearer ring as indicated at 12 and toY eachthere isV secureda worm gear 13,. each worm gear cooperating wit-h' aworm 14 rotatably mounted on the bearerring 1'-1 by brackets 15-i Theouter end of each of' worms 14 is adapted, asv indicated. at. 16. tocooperatewith-` a wrenchor other remove ablemeans for turningv the wormand thereby rotating the respective'. reel: rollers through thecooperating worm gearsl 13. These worms are readily accessible to theoperator.

After securing the lock-upt assembly to the cylinder by means. of screws7', the counter-bored screw: holes 17 are plugged with metal. and thesurfaces ofthe face plates. accurately groundto conform` with: thecurvature ofthe cylinder. f

It is essential that each of the reel rollersbepr'ovided with means forsecuringv an; end of the blanket thereto. Sincev the blanket. must; beremoved vandI replaced from time to time,tit.is.particularlyfdesirable:that the respective ends of theV blanket be.v readily secured toandidsengaged from. the` reel rollers. Inv order to. obtaineven tensionon the blanket, it is importanty that the engagement of an. Outer. sheetof;V rubber. 19 and. an` underlying sheet. of

felt 20. Advantageously the felt sheet is somewhat shorter than therubber sheet and is secured to the metal strip 18 only at one end, forreasons which will hereinafter appear. The metal strip 18 is withadvantage U-shaped as shown in the drawing, the blanket fitting withinthe strip and being secured thereby by means of rivets 21 spaced atshort intervals, advantageously on about 2 inch centers, along the widthof the blanket. For reasons which will hereinafter appear, the length ofthe metal strip should be somewhat greater than the width of the blanketso as to project beyond each side edge of the blanket a distance ofabout 1 inch or more.

Each of the reel rollers 9 is slotted longitudinally over its entirelength, as indicated at 22, Fig. 3, the width and depth of the slotbeing such as to receive the metal strip 18, secured to one end of theblanket.

In applying the blanket to the cylinder, the reel rollers are rotated,by means previously described, so that the slots 22 of both rollers arein' the position indicated by the right hand reel roller of Fig. 3. Themetal strip, to which both felt and rubber sheets have been fastened, ispassed through the slot 8 in the periphery of the cylinder and insertedin the slots 22 of one of the reel rollers, for instance the left handroller. This operation is greatly facilitated by the extensions of themetal strip beyond the blanket edges. These strip extensions also serveto lock the strip in the groove 22.

This locking is, with particular advantage, accomplished by extendingthe groove 22 to the full length of the strip and providing a slipcollar on an end extension of roller 9 beyond the blanket edge, asindicated at 23 of Fig. 1. This collar may be provided with a slot 24and adapted to be rotated to bring slot 24 in register with groove 22when it is desired to insert the strip 18 therein, or remove it fromgroove 22, and the collar is turned so that slot 24 is not in registerwith groove 22 when it is desired to lock strip 18 in the groove. Anysuitable means may be provided for rotating the collar, for instance pinholes made readily accessible to the operator by a recess in the endextension of the cylinder. Advantageously, a collar of this type isprovided with a spring arrangement, not necessary here to describe,which tends to hold the collar in the locked position. Other types oflocking mechanism may be provided, for instance a collar adapted toslide longitudinally to engage or disengage the ends of the metal strip18.

After locking the strip 18 in position in groove 22, 'that reel rollerto which the blanket has been attached may be turned to a position suchas that of the left hand reel roller shown in Fig. 3. The felt andrubber sheets are then smoothly wrapped about the cylinder, the looseVend of the felt sheet tucked into slot 8 and the metal strip attachedto the remaining end of the blanket inserted in groove 22 of the righthand reel roller and locked in position as previously described.

The blanket may then be tightened about the periphery of the blanketcylinder by turning one or both of the reel rollers in the appropriatedirection to pull the blanket downwardly through the slot 8 until thedesired blanket tension is obtained.

Blanket cylinders used on modern presses are frequently of considerablelength, of the order of feet or more, especially in modern so-calleddouble-ender presses. When the blanket is placed under considerabletension, there is a tendency, especially where long reel rollers areused, for the reel roller to yield at its intermediate portion thuscausing less tension toward the middle of the blanket than toward theblanket edges.

An important aspect of the present invention is the avoidance of thistendency without unduly increasing the diameter and weight of the reelrollers. This is accomplished, in accordance with my present invention,by so constructing the blanket lock-up that the reel rollers, over theirentire length, bear at their outer periphery, upon-theVcorrcsp'ondingrigid faceplate 5, as indicated 4 in Fig. 3 at 25. By sosupporting the reel rollers against buckling, a uniform tension throughthe width of the blanket may be obtained.

A modified construction of the blanket cylinder and lock-up assembly isshown in Figs. 6 to 9, inclusive of the drawings.

In this modification, the lock-up assembly is fitted into a space milledinto the surface of the blanket cylinder, as more clearly shown in Fig.7, and the worms and worm gears for rotating the reel rollers areenclosed within a housing 26 constituting a longitudinal extensionbeyond the bearer ring at each end of the blanket cylinder.

The worm gears are secured to opposite ends of the respective reelrollers by means of screws 27 and the housings are secured to the bearerrings by means of screws 28. Access to the worm, by means of wrench orthe like, is through opening 29 in the periphery of the housing 26.

The worms 14 and the worm gears 13 are fitted into recesses bored intoan outward extension 30 of the inner portions of the bearer ring and thelower ends of the worms bear on thrust washers 31.

Friction between the worm and worm gear is frequently suicient toprevent any loosening of the blanket in operation. However, any suitablemeans may be provided where necessary for locking the worm in the setposition, for instance, a ball and spring detent such as represented inFig. 9 comprising a uted member 32, and a steel ball 33 urged againstthe flutes by compression spring 34, the tension on which is adjustableby means of pressure plug 35. The worms may be held against outwardmovement by means of snap rings 36'.

The arrangement of the locking collars 23 may be substantially asheretofore described, the collars being held in the locked position bysprings indicated at 37 and access to the collars is obtained throughrecess 38 in the end extension of the cylinder.

By reason of the novel design and construction of my improved lock-up,substantially the entire periphery of the blanket cylinder is availablefor printing, the only unusable area being that overlying the slot 8 atthe seam of the blanket which may be of a width of the order of 1/2inch. The blanket lies smoothly over the face plates on either side ofthe slot and irregularities, which might cause defects in printing orbumping in operation, are avoided. In adjusting the blanket, it may bepulled from each end and thus substantially uniform blanket tension overthe entire periphery of the blanket cylinder readily obtained.

I claim:

1. A mechanism for securing and adjusting the blanket about theperiphery of a blanket cylinder used in offset printing, comprising tworigid face plates having their outer surfaces flush with, andconstituting a portion of, the peripheral surface of the cylinder,coextensive in length with that of the cylinder and spaced apart to forma narrow longitudinal slot in the periphery of the cylinder, tworotatably mounted rollers positioned within the cylinder beneath therespective face plates, on either side of the slot, the peripheralsurface of the respective rollers nearest the slot bearing upon an innersurface of the corresponding face plate over substantially the length ofthe roller, each roller being provided with a relatively narrowlongitudinally-extending slot of substantially rectangular cross-sectionextending inwardly from the periphery thereof only partway through theroller, the depth of the slot being greater than its width, said slotbeing adapted to receive a metal strip secured to one end of the blanketand extending outwardly `beyond each side edge of the blanket, thelength of said slot being at least equal to that of the strip, meansadapted to cooperate with the extending ends of the strips for latchingthem within the slots, and means independent of spatid last-mentionedmeans for separately rotating the rollers about their respective axes.

5 6 2. The mechanism of claim 1 in which the latchng 1,670,418 Mayer May22, 1928 means is a slip collar movably mounted about an endf 2,186,764Meisel Jan. 9, 1940 extension of the roller. 2,194,560 Marchev et alMar. 26, 1940 2,388,193 Stempel Oct. 301945 References Cited in the leof this patent 5 2,409,536 Braunworth Oct. 15, 1946 UNITED STATESPATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 1,257,538 Scott et al. Feb. 26, 1918 388,029Germany yJan. 8, 1924

